Pubdate: Mon, 05 Mar 2001
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2001 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  204 5th Avenue North, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7K 2P1
Fax: (306) 664-0437
Feedback: http://www.saskstar.sk.ca/template.ihtml?id=letters
Website: http://www.saskstar.sk.ca/
Author: Barb Pacholik, Saskatchewan News Network
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT GROWERS SAY DRUG A SACRAMENT TO THEIR RELIGION

REGINA - Two convicted marijuana growers who claim pot is the "tree of 
life" referred to in the Bible are appealing their six-month jail sentences.

"Cannabis marihuana is a sacrament to my religion and a focal point of my 
culture," Darryl Kenneth McGregor, who refers to himself as "Brother," 
states in a notice of appeal filed recently with Saskatchewan's top court.

Both he and Charles David Scott, who calls himself "Reverend Brother" in 
the court documents, say their sentence is "unjust and unreasonable." The 
Crown is also appealing the sentences, arguing they are not fit and should 
be increased.

No date for hearing the appeals has been set, but Scott is seeking a 
"speedy hearing as I am suffering by the moment." The 29-year-old said he 
uses marijuana for medicinal purposes to help him cope with manic depression.

McGregor, 26, and Scott, who are priests in The Assembly Church of the 
Universe, were charged after a police raid on a Dysart-area farm in October 
1999 turned up 490 cannabis plants. The pair pleaded guilty to possession 
of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and unlawfully producing a 
controlled substance.

At their sentencing in Fort Qu'Appelle provincial court on Feb. 5, Scott 
raged against the judicial system and the RCMP while quoting from the 
Biblical Book of Genesis.

Scott was proclaimed British Columbia's "Aryan Nation Man of the Year" in 
1995 by an Idaho-based white supremacist group. He later publicly renounced 
his racist links before moving from the Okanagan to Dysart, just north of 
Regina, in the late 1990s.

In documents sent to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the men claim their 
sentence is unconstitutional and "based upon a perception of social evil 
rather than fact or law."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager